


All Hail The King

by ArmyofMew



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Gen, King Ray, Mad King, Mad King Ryan, king AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-24 22:45:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2599313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArmyofMew/pseuds/ArmyofMew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who doesn't tend to go a little mad with power, especially with a voice in the back of your head whispering the most wonderful, horrible things. The promise of respect and power is a pretty tempting offer, isn't it my king? Tell me you aren't a little curios of what lies beneath our feet, unless you're afraid of the dark, my king.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Hail The King

When the king first went mad it wasn't all that noticeable. He seemed off, like something had changed overnight but nothing that would have forewarned them of what was to come. He began to see enemies where there were none, insisted that people could not be trusted. He started wars and divided the kingdom, innocent lives were lost to his madness. When the time came for a revolution it was the people who had severed on his own court who lead the charge. They feared for his life and the lives of others and so actions had to be taken. 

The people joined the revolution and war touched every corner of the kingdom. Many lives were lost, families were torn apart and The King sank further into madness, rambling about a prediction and a dark presence underground. This went on for years and the people began to grow restless for an end of the bloodshed, they would rather live in fear than die a fools death in a pointless war. The rebel leaders pressed forward, urging people to stay and fight for their homes, for their families. One of the younger leaders became the poster boy for revolution. He had lost his king, and his friends to this war and he wanted it to end just as quickly as they did. He insisted that the quickest way out was one finally push to overthrow their king. 

That year they stormed the capitol and took the castle, that day The Mad King Ryan was overthrown. A new reign began, a new king was crowned and the old king imprisoned. The young revolution leader was now king, despite his protests, he was their hero. The reign of King Ray was sure to be a glorious time within the kingdom. Though there was much work to do and much to rebuild, the people stood behind their king. Nobody could see any darkness within the young man's heart and after handing the throne to a madman, it seemed so safe and so secure to have the crown rest upon the head of someone so pure hearted. 

What the towns people didn't know was that their new king would hear the whispers of a dark voice when he lay awake in bed. Try as he might to write it off as a figment of his imagination or as the dark thoughts left behind by the old king they didn't fade away, they grew the more attention he gave them, yet he could not ignore them. The promised him power and respect and played off of each and every one of his insecurities. He never let anyone know that he heard them, he didn't want rumors of another mad king to circulate about his kingdom. He had settled into the role of king by this point and had many plans for the kingdom. He was not ready to give into the voice just yet.

He resolved to force the voices from his mind tonight, he was sane. He had a job to do, he hadn't been through hell to go mad on the throne as the man before him had. _The man before you had resolve._ The voice filtered into the room like a gust of air through cracked glass. _He fought me away for years. He had self-control. Can you say the same my young king?_ Ray swallowed thickly and tried to force the voice from his thoughts. _They respected the old king. He was a wise and powerful man, until he went mad of course. To them you're a place holder until a better suited leader comes along. They will never respect you, my king._ The serpentine played off all his insecurities, he couldn't hide his feelings, or his thoughts as the dark whisper coiled around his innermost thoughts.

The voice continued to speak to him every night, whispering promises of power and respect in exchange for its freedom. Ray fought off the temptations for weeks, trying to remain in control of his mind. He felt close to snapping and he and only been on the throne for a few months, he needed answers. He didn't trust his staff, not because they had deemed themselves unworthy of his trust. It was more out of the fear that they would see the madness growing within him, the kingdom had just suffered through a painful war, it did not need another. Ray could think of only one person who would believe him, if his theory was correct and the voice was telling the truth. The one person he could turn to would be the former king.

He waited to sneak down to the cells late into the night, he needed to do this alone and sneaking away from his guards would be much easier with the assumption that he was sound asleep. The guards were stationed at either end of the hallway, which gave him privacy but didn't exactly allow for easy access to or from the corridor. He knew this castle well however, he had used the secret corridors to avoid unpleasant chores as a boy or when he used to explore the castle with the very man he was going to visit tonight. Ryan used to skip his lessons to spend time with the young servants. The men who would grow up to be advisers and guards to the king. He smiled fondly at the memories of a happier time as he stepped into the hidden door way and secret tunnels that he knew so well. 

As he expected there was hardly any security this late into the night with the only prisoner being a rather tired looking disgraced king. "I knew I would be getting a visit from you sooner or later my king." he drawled sleepily. "I see the voices are getting a bit too much to handle. They promise such glorious things, I wonder what do they whisper in your ear?" He smiled dryly up at the younger man. He seemed healthier after losing his throne, the shadows under his eyes had lessened, he looked younger, more alive. "It doesn't matter" Ray snapped more harshly than intended. Ryan bowed his head in a subservient apology. "I apologize my king. I did not intend to overstep my bounds." He said humbly. "So you heard the voice as well?" Ray asked, kneeling in front of the iron bars. Ryan nodded, "Yes my lord" he murmured. 

There was something in his crystalline eyes, an emotion he had never seen there before. At least, not one he had ever seen when they were talking, a look of fear. It unnerved him but he pushed it aside, there were more important matters at hand. "Tell me what it wants" he pressed. He emitted a dry, humorless laugh. "It hasn't made that clear to you yet? It wants it's freedom. Whether it gets what it wishes is no longer my cross to bear. This is all I can offer you. I apologize my lord but this is a decision for the king to make" He stepped away from the bars, melting back into the shadows of his cell. 

Over the next few days Ray was forced to deal with the voices insistence for freedom and grand promises of power and respect. The more and more he listened the more and more obvious it became that the dark whispers were right. The people only respected him a hero from the war, a token king meant to inspire but not to lead. He wanted to be the kind of ruler Ryan was, before the madness. He wanted to be a good negotiator and have the respect of the people, he wanted to be a powerful man. He wasn't strong on his own, he constantly needed the consent of his staff. He needed his friends to help him achieve his dreams. Ray hated himself for it. He should be able to stand on his own feet and rebuild the kingdom as he saw fit, not as the others told him to. 

He needed power, and respect to stand on his own. He wasn't tall or commanding, he didn't draw the eye of every person in the room when he entered. He was simply there, a leader who did as he was told and made the villagers happy. He needed to be commanding but he couldn't be loud enough. He needed more power, a physical boost to make him the man he aspired to be, the king he so desperately wanted to become. He needed everything those dark, serpent like whispers promised him he could be. He knew what he wanted and he had a means of attaining it the only thing that held him back was his own fear. That night when the whispers came he pushed down his own fear, he welcomed the voices in. "I'll help you gain your freedom, tell me what you need of me." He breathed quietly into the dark air of his bedroom. The voices grew stronger, telling him what they needed and where to find them. He let out a shaky breath. "I can do that." A dark smile grew across the young king's face; he was going to get everything he wanted, everything he deserved.


End file.
